Truck for charges in heating-furnaces



R. C. DRINKER.

TRUCK FOR CHARGES IN HEATING FURNACES. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 3| 19I9.

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. BY @ma ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 10, 192.0.

RICHARD C. DRINKER, OF QINCY, MASSACHUSETTS.

TRUCK FOR CHARGES IN HEATING-FURNACES.

Specification of Letters Eatent. A Patented Feb. 10, 1920.

Appncanon fried october a, 191e. semina. 328,164.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, RICHARD C. DRINKER,

a citizen of the Y'United States, residing at Quincy, county of Norfolk, and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful lImprovements in Trucks for Charges in Heating-Furnaces, fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same.

This invention relates to a truck for conveying material into and out of the heatingchamber of a metal heating-furnace, the truck being constructed particularly to travel upon two rows of balls supported in runways transversely to the heating-chamber. 4

The truck is especially designed to be placed one under each end of a shaft and to support the same so as to permit longitudinal expansion of the shaft when heated.

A truck embodying these improvements is shown in the annexed drawing, in which Figure 1 is a front elevation of a furnace with heating-chamber of -much greater width than length and having a series of doors to close its opening, the doors being shown raised to exhibit the trucks supporting the shaft in the heating-chamber. Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the same taken on line 2 2 in Fig. 1 gV Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the truck carrying an expansion rocker-roll and supported upon two rows of balls; Fig. 1 is a planv of the body of the truck; Fig. 5 is a' plan, and Fig. 6 a side view of the rocker-roll used to 'support the shaft upon the trucks.

The furnace shown invention, but is illustrated merely to theoperation of the truck. v

t designates the heating-chamber of the furnace; b the doors used to close the front of said chamber, the doors being raised in Fig. 1 and closed in Fig. 2.

A combustion-chamber c is indicated in dotted lines beneath the floor of the heating-chamber, but the means of heating the chamber is wholly immaterial.

A large shaft d is shown supported upon three trucks in the heating-chamber each truck having a rocker-roll e mounted thereon, which supports the shaft and is capable of sufficient rotation to permit the longitudinal expansion of the shaft without any obstruction.

The body of the truck has two parallel forms no part of the show side-bars f connected by lcross-bars gfwith a slotr 7L between the cross-bars extended transversely of the side-bars, to receive a counterbalance lug` c' which is projected from the lower side of the rocker-roll.

rEhe balls i@ are shown in Fig. 3, mounted in runways m which, like the raceways j, are made of somewhat larger radius than the balls to permit lateral play. The crossbars are made with a flat surface to receive the cylindrical ends of the rocker-roll, which extends over the cross-bars and is parallel with the side-bars.

Each side-barl has its lower side concaved transversely throughout its entire length to forma raceway y' to rest upon balls 7c, and

`such side-bars are preferablyconcaved upon both the upper and lower sides so thatv the truck may be reversed when the raceways become worn or bent by pressure upon the supporting balls k. v

Theradius of the raceway j is made a lit` tle greater than the radius of the balls. 7o, so as to permit a certain amount of side ,movement of the truck upon the balls.

rThe cross-bars have a flatv surface on whichthe ends 0f the rocker-roll rest with the lug c' proj ecteddown in the slot h. The ends of this roll are cylindrical and its upper surface is tapered from the cylindrical ends to the middle line, to form a seat l sloped from both ends of the roll tow-ard the middle to center the shaft cl when laid thereon.

Such sloping is extended around the sides of the roll to the sides of the lug z', which has sufficient clearance in the slot L to permit -a limited rocking of the roll.

Such construction enables the shaft when resting upon such rocker-rolls at both'ends, and expanded by heating, to rock the rolls as far as such expansion may require, and to return to an upright position when the load is released.

With a shaft feet in length resting upon the rockers the expansion may be several inches and each end rocker would be turned `to compensate one-half of that amount; the sloping surface being formed upon the sides, as well as upon the top of the roll, to keep the shaftv centrally supi ported as the roll isrocked, the balls compensating for lateral alinement.

VThree of the ,trucks with shaft thereon are shown in Fig. l, two near the ends and on at'the middle ofthe shaftd. *Y

Such shafts are sometimes crooked and can be straightenedin the heating operation by properly alining the upper surface of the rocker-rolls, so that as the shart softens 1n heating its middle and ends may be brought by gravity into a straight lineV roll Aupon the central truck when required,

so as to bring it level with the other rolls.

Any suitable means may be used to adjust vthe rocker-roll vertically upon the truck,

the simplest 'means 'consisting of shinip'ieces or plates of suitable thickness lshown at 1t in Fig. 3 inserted between the crosspiece/t and the cylindrical end of the rockerroll. Such pieces may be provided of various thicknesses so as to be ready for use `when required, forV compensating large offsets in shaft-rolls when greater diameters are used.`

The packings n to be insertedbetween the rocker-roll and the truck-body are ineXpensiveand durable, and the entire apparatus is therefore very cheap and-easily manufactured.

It will be observed that 'the truck oonsists of al single casting and is therefore very cheap and possesses no parts liable vto derangement.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention what is claimed herein is:

l. A truck for a metal heating-furnace having raeeways to it upon parallel rows of balls and a slot transverse to the race-l ways toA engage a rocker-roll for the charge.

2. A truck for a metal heating-furnace having raceways to itupon parallel rows the truck, and automatically hold the seat for supporting the shaft uppermost.V

3. A truck constructed according to claim 2, the rocker-roll having a smaller radius at the middle of its length upon the upper side to forni a tapering seat to support a shaft or other analogous articles. Y

4t. A truck constructed according to claim 2, the rocker-roll having at the middle of its length a smaller radius 'than at the ends, such reduced radius being carried around the top and sides of theroll and upon the sides of the depending lug for additional strength.

5. A truck for a metal heating-furnace having parallel side-bars with raceways upon the opposite faces of said bars to fit reversibly upon parallel rows of balls.

6. A truck for a metal heating-furnace comliirising a casting having parallelv sidebars connected by cross-bars, the opposite surfaces ef each side-bar being' formed with concave raceways to rest upon parallel rows of balls. y

7. A truck for a metal heating-furnace having parallel side-bars with raeeways to lit upon parallel rows ofballs5 and crossbars having a flat upper surface with a transverse slot between such cross-bars, a rockenroll having cylindrical ends supported respectively upon the fiat surfaces of the cross-bars and having a lug litted movably to the transverse slot to center it upon the truck, and shim-plates fitted between the ends of the rocker-roll and the fiat surfaces of the cross-barsfor adjusting the height of the roll thereon.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand. e

RICHARD C. DRINKER. 

